sub wattage vs. amp wattage

What is better, having a sub with more wattage is your setup or an amp with more wattage, why? What effect does having more sub wattage/ or more amp wattage?
Also, where should the gain on your amp usually be set and why?
thanks
Jon

Re: sub wattage vs. amp wattage

Originally posted by cockeyed00 What is better, having a sub with more wattage is your setup or an amp with more wattage, why? What effect does having more sub wattage/ or more amp wattage?
Also, where should the gain on your amp usually be set and why?
thanks
Jon

Having a sub that can handle more wattage than an amp that feeds it too much wattage is better. People will say that underpowering a sub is worse than overpowering it, however, they are morons and know jack **** about car audio. Exceeding a sub's RMS will be ok, dependant on the amount over and the sub, of course, but not by much wattage. To set the gains, set the volume on your h/u to what you would normally play it at when you have it bumping, then turn the gain on the amp till it starts to distort, then adjust it accordingly. hope this helps.

Originally posted by n2audio Enclosure is critical too. A sub in a ported enclosure should be kept in the neighborhood of it's rated power. The same sub in a sealed enclosure will be fine with sometimes 2x what it's rated for.

Originally posted by n2audio Enclosure is critical too. A sub in a ported enclosure should be kept in the neighborhood of it's rated power. The same sub in a sealed enclosure will be fine with sometimes 2x what it's rated for.

I have never heard that before....just for my knowledge, whats the reason for that?

"...Exceeding a sub's RMS will be ok, dependant on the amount over and the sub, of course, but not by much wattage..."

So you shouldn't go over a sub's RMS by much? If I had a jl 10w6 with a RMS of 300 and max of 500, what would happen if i had a jl 500/1 amp and maxed it? Would it blow? Why is there a max rating on a sub when it isn't good to play it at that?
Basically, I have 2 10" punch Zs that have a 140 RMS and 400 max and I shouldn't get an 800/2 amp? But if the gain isn't all the way up, I wouldn't be maxing it.

Originally posted by cockeyed00 "...Exceeding a sub's RMS will be ok, dependant on the amount over and the sub, of course, but not by much wattage..."

So you shouldn't go over a sub's RMS by much? If I had a jl 10w6 with a RMS of 300 and max of 500, what would happen if i had a jl 500/1 amp and maxed it? Would it blow? Why is there a max rating on a sub when it isn't good to play it at that?
Basically, I have 2 10" punch Zs that have a 140 RMS and 400 max and I shouldn't get an 800/2 amp? But if the gain isn't all the way up, I wouldn't be maxing it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, everyone but....

Ignore peak power, amps like JL, they state RMS. Your dual Z's need approximately 200~250RMS amps, so maybe a JL300/1 (300W RMS) would be good, but with the gains lowered, or any other else that hovers around 250~300W RMS at 2 or 4 ohms, depending on your subs. What's the ohmload on the subs? As far as I know, JL amps produce the same RMS power from 4 to 1 ohm..or was that half ohm? If you've got money and don't wanna do the math, the JL audio would be good...

Originally posted by evo2k3 I have never heard that before....just for my knowledge, whats the reason for that?

There are 2 ways to damage speakers:

1. Heat (way way way too much power - or severe amp clipping)

2. Exceeding the speakers mechanical limits - this is where a sealed enclosure comes in. They control the movement of the speaker cone much more than ported enclosures do. That's why they can handle more power.

"..Ignore peak power, amps like JL, they state RMS. Your dual Z's need approximately 200~250RMS amps, so maybe a JL300/1 (300W RMS) would be good...."

since I have 2 10"s wouldn't I need like a 500/1 then? if both RMSs are 250?
And, why is it not good to run subs higher than RMS? ex. sub that's Dual 6
300 RMS/500 max running at 400 watts?
thanks
Jon

Well, if you go over the handling capacity of anything, it's a sure way of shortening its lifespan...

I said 300/1, cause I was thinking that maybe you could power the subs modestly... Adire audio's Brahma subs ae rated at 1600W, but even the company admits that if fed at this level constantly, you WILL burn out the coils...

as for our example, dual 6ohms, 300RMS/500W PMPO (peak music power output, I think), that'd mean the subs can take a maximum constant 300watts... now, if your subs were big huge SPL monsters like the power HX2's that are rated at 1kw RMS each and you only feed it 300 watts RMS, then maybe you'd see the cones move, but hardly enough to get some decent sound. But RF z's and P's like mine aren't designed for competitions in mind, more for a daily driver and to me, my parts are expensive, so I'd rather not push my stuff to the limits...

In your example, you said 300RMS/500peak at 400watts..400 RMS or peak? If it's peak, it shouldn't be a problem, peak is USUALLY just double of the RMS...

example: My 2 10" 8 ohm RFP's are rated at 200W RMS/ 400 W peak each (400W RMS total) and I power them with a RF 60.2 and the amp gives out roughly 150~160watts in mono at 4 ohms. That would mean that my subs are getting about 80watts RMS each. No distortion, no clipping, sounds good to me... of course, I DO plan to upgrade my 8mm xmax sub with a shiva MK2 real soon...